03-28-2010, 04:20 AM
Folks, read the article before you panic. There are already a lot of laws and vigilant watchdog groups out there protecting the trees so it isn't likely this person is going to be able to harvest trees on conservation land.
As for the economics of growing koa, though, several years ago, I was doing some drafting for some folks who wanted to do just that. The numbers they were using were 426 koa trees per acre and they were planning on letting the trees grow as a native forest interspersed with other trees so the koa would have a higher incidence of "curly". I forget the exact percentage of curly they were hoping for, somewhere around 30%, I think it was. Trees grown plantation style (in rows) have a tendency to grow straight which isn't what makes the curly so koa in rows is not as good as koa in forests. They also hoped to start light harvesting in about fourteen years with full sustainable harvesting starting in about twenty years. They planned to never harvest more than 10% per year and they were planning on bringing the trees out by mules or ATV's. Apparently koa has shallow root systems and machinery damages the roots. Cattle can damage the roots as well as eat the young koa so cattle and koa don't mix well. They were planning on perhaps some bird hunting and perhaps a campground with trails through the forest as land use while waiting for the koa to grow.
These folks already log different areas on the planet but they are extremely green about the whole thing. Each tree is marked with GPS coordinates before it is harvested so you can find out exactly where the lumber came from. They never clear cut the trees. Hmm, figure 8% of 426 trees per acre is 34 trees. If you can sell a koa tree for $1,500 each (on average, the curly ones go for more the straight ones perhaps less) that's about $50K per acre per year. If anyone has a twenty year lead time, it could be a great business.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
As for the economics of growing koa, though, several years ago, I was doing some drafting for some folks who wanted to do just that. The numbers they were using were 426 koa trees per acre and they were planning on letting the trees grow as a native forest interspersed with other trees so the koa would have a higher incidence of "curly". I forget the exact percentage of curly they were hoping for, somewhere around 30%, I think it was. Trees grown plantation style (in rows) have a tendency to grow straight which isn't what makes the curly so koa in rows is not as good as koa in forests. They also hoped to start light harvesting in about fourteen years with full sustainable harvesting starting in about twenty years. They planned to never harvest more than 10% per year and they were planning on bringing the trees out by mules or ATV's. Apparently koa has shallow root systems and machinery damages the roots. Cattle can damage the roots as well as eat the young koa so cattle and koa don't mix well. They were planning on perhaps some bird hunting and perhaps a campground with trails through the forest as land use while waiting for the koa to grow.
These folks already log different areas on the planet but they are extremely green about the whole thing. Each tree is marked with GPS coordinates before it is harvested so you can find out exactly where the lumber came from. They never clear cut the trees. Hmm, figure 8% of 426 trees per acre is 34 trees. If you can sell a koa tree for $1,500 each (on average, the curly ones go for more the straight ones perhaps less) that's about $50K per acre per year. If anyone has a twenty year lead time, it could be a great business.
Kurt Wilson
Kurt Wilson